Iowa State Football: Ranking Cyclones’ 2020 opponents by toughness

One of the three or four main teams looking to contend for a Big 12 title happens to reside in Austin but the problem with the Longhorns is that whenever they take a step forward, they take two steps back. That’s been happening for years.

The Longhorns bring back Sam Ehlinger at quarterback and Keaontay Ingram at running back, but the defense was one of the worst in the nation last year. It was supposed to be the season in which the Longhorns proved Ehlinger right when he said “Texas is back” after beating Georgia in the Sugar Bowl the previous season, but an 8-5 campaign was disappointing.

Tom Herman is facing a crucial year. If he can get the Longhorns to 10 wins and Big 12 title contention, he’ll have no worries about his job security.

Although this is a home game, it may as well be neutral because there’s a good chance college football games will be fan-less this fall. That means Oklahoma won’t have to worry about a hostile Jack Trice Stadium.

The Sooners will be looking for Spencer Rattler to step up as the starting quarterback and prove why he was a five-star and one of the best passers in the 2019 class. He learned from Jalen Hurts for a season and is poised to show that he’ll be the next Heisman-contending quarterback in Norman. He has some elite targets to throw to and a top-tier running back in Kennedy Brooks to take the pressure off.

Oklahoma is the toughest game on every Big 12 team’s schedule this season, especially with the defense improving drastically under Alex Grinch.